Instagram Shares Reels Posting Tips at NYC Creator Event

This is a pedantic point, or maybe a petty one, though either way, it’s still a relevant note for social media marketers.

Last May, Instagram ran a creator even in New York, in which it shared a range of tips on how to maximize content performance, and improve the reach of your clips.

Presented by IG at that event was this slide, which summarizes most of the topline notes.

As you can see, less than a year ago, Instagram noted that 90 second+ Reels should be avoided, because, according to IG at the time, it had found that users were less interested in longer Reels, and it therefore didn’t recommend them as widely.

Which makes sense, except then, in January this year, as IG was looking for ways to counter TikTok, and potentially offer a landing spot for TikTok creators in case TikTok did end up being banned in the U.S., Instagram expanded the length of native Reels to 3 minutes

As explained by Instagram chief Adam Mosseri at the time:

“Starting today, you can upload Reels to Instagram up to three minutes long. Now, historically, it’s only been 90 seconds, and that’s because we’ve wanted to focus Instagram on short-form video, not on long-form video. But we’ve heard a lot of feedback from a lot of you creators out there that 90 seconds is just too short, so we’re hoping that upping that limit up to three minutes will help you tell the stories that you really want to tell.”

So now, users are okay with longer Reels? Okay then.

And today, at its latest creator even in NYC, IG shared the following notes:

This is the exact same list that it shared last year, with one change: Now, you shouldn’t post Reels longer than 3 minutes instead.

Technically, this relates to Instagram’s algorithmic recommendations, in that IG wasn’t recommending Reels longer than 90 seconds last year, but now it is. In that sense, the advice makes sense, but I do find it humorous that Instagram had tried to frame this as a user preference issue, as opposed to it really being driven by what IG itself wants.

Instagram now wants you to post longer content, so it can better compete with other apps. So now, longer clips are okay, but it’s got absolutely nothing to do with audience demand, or preference, or anything else.

It’s another reminder that the apps themselves dictate trends and shifts, through what they choose to amplify, which often has as much impact as the overall content itself.

Best to align with their latest whims.